412 Tasting Notes

Had a cup of this, with milk, this morning. Not as strong as I thought, but still a good breakfast tea. Reserving judgement for later – I’ve decided to take my time with marks from now on, giving each tea at least two separate tastings before rating it. But for now this tea is in the 70-80 range – a good, solid breakfast tea, but not something to go out of your way to find.

Drinking Lao Cong Zi Ya and working on my thesis. I haven’t logged tea in a while, even though I have been drinking quite a bit, and I’ve got a ton of teas to review. Just too busy with my work and thesis to properly log the tea that I’m drinking. I am trying to find time to organize my tea cupboard, and list every tea that I have in a google spreadsheet and here.
This tea is lovely, fruity, a little malty, and the first 50g that I bought are almost gone.

Preparation

I’m the team leader of the operating system division of a large bank’s system mainframe unit. So that makes me a computer programmer for a living :) But my thesis is in English Lit. and it’s on Henry James. Weird combo, I know :)

I went to our local farmer’s market this morning, and chatted to a few of the regular famers there as I was shopping for fruit and vegetables. They’re all very worried at the moment, as two swarms of locusts have crossed the Sinai desert from Egypt and landed in the Israeli south, with its fields of produce and lush hothouses. The beasts are a menace, destroying whole fields in minutes, and getting rid of them won’t be an easy task. Right now everyone’s watching the wind, to see if it will carry more locusts across the border or not.
I just remembered it now, while sipping this tea – the fragility of crops, the hardship that farmers face, the pride that they take in their produce, and how we miss so much of that aspect of food growing when we buy a shrink wrapped tin in a supermarket. That’s part of why I appreciate sites like Verdant Tea, who highlight and expose some of that hidden aspect of consuming.

I understand. Today as I was driving home I was suddenly haunted by the taste of a Ti Kuan Yin I had last night. I wanted more so badly! And it made me reflect on all the hard working hands that were necessary to bring that experience to me. I am thankful and humbled.

This tea brews surprisingly light (almost white tea light), so I was worried at first that it would be light on the flavour side too. Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about.
The tea is floral – but mellow. It isn’t a perfumy floral that assaults your senses. It’s a delicate, sweet floral, that still has great depth and a never-ending malty aftertaste. When I first smelled the dry leaves I thought that there was something of the milk oolong in their scent. This note remains in the surprisingly thick and creamy texture of this tea.
There’s also an elusive, more full-bodied flavour that’s lurking in the background, giving this tea more body. Perhaps wheat? straw?
2nd brew – floral notes are still there, but they are even more toned down. Other flavours emerge. Some tanginess, some pepper, some olive oil – this tea requires too much concentration to define in one sitting. Decided to quietly drink it, and leave reviews for later. A wonderful tea

This is a delicious tea that I really recommend brewing gongfu style. There’s a definite olive like taste to it, particularly in later brewings. It’s sweet, not at all astringent, and a few grams make many great brews. The only thing off-putting about this tea is the steep price tag. I think that it’s worth it, but I can understand if people prefer to buy other Yunnan teas.

Preparation

wild craft and personal connections are deeply important for the preservation of the biodiversity and tea culture of Yunnan and to all of China…the price offers freedom to the farmers to live a reasonable and healthy life and with tea demand going up world wide we in the west need to learn how to adjust instead of driving markets into subjugating and exploiting land and cultures to support our habits

I don’t have time for a proper review of this tea, but I will mention some flavours – olive, fruity, sweet, careful not to overbrew – can grow bitter very quickly. But a very special and delicious tea.

I brewed it western style and list track of time the first time I drank it. It’s happened to me before with other Yunnan teas. I haven’t tried it gongfu yet – I have a feeling that it will be much better to drink it that way.

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Bio

An Israeli computer programmer with a passion for tea (mostly bought in yearly shopping sprees in the UK), particularly black, oolong and white. I don’t generally enjoy flavoured teas or herbal infusions, but if a tea sounds interesting and smells nice I’ll most definitely try it. I drink several cups of tea a day, usually one or two in the morning, another one after lunch and one or two in the evening. My favourite tea so far is Lao Cong Zi Ya from Norbu Tea, but I’m constantly trying new teas. Only in the past year have I branched into Pu’erh and non-roasted oolongs. Finding good tea in Israel is difficult, so I import most of my teas from yearly visits to London, or from online retailers. If you see something in my cupboard that sparks your interest and you would like to swap with me, then please message me. I’m almost always up for a swap.